Ashton smiled as he took my hand in his and said, “Don’t worry, I’m by your side and I’ll carry you if you can’t walk anymore.”
Hannah shot him a look and said, “Quit it with the public display of affection.”
Ashton and I exchanged glances with a smile.
Hannah and Chandler’s wedding were a little extraordinary as they wanted to jazz up their wedding. With everything prepared, Chandler and his entourage, entered the hotel and headed to Hannah’s hotel room. The groom knocked politely on the door three times and announced, “My dear wife, I’m here.”
His terms of endearment caused everyone to burst out laughing. Hannah couldn’t help but cover her mouth with her hand and chuckled too. The bridesmaids were standing by the door and proceeded to play some wedding door games with the groom to challenge his love for the bride.
The merriment lasted a few minutes before the bridesmaids agreed to open the door. As soon as the door opened, the groom and groomsmen rushed into the room together. The groomsmen quickly whipped out red envelopes to divert the attention of the bridesmaids as the groom headed straight for the bride. Chandler, who was holding a bouquet of fresh red flowers, strode fast to Hannah’s side. He was supposed to kneel on one knee to present the bouquet to the bride, but in his excitement, he knelt on both knees.
His blunder caused another burst of laughter in the room.
Hannah, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, wore a stunning wedding gown. At the sound of the crowd’s laughter, she curiously moved the veil to the side. She couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the sight of Chandler on both knees.
One of the groomsmen hollered, “Hurry! Claim your bride!”
“That’s right!”
After being prompted by his groomsmen, the nervous Chandler looked at Hannah. He blushed and stuttered, “M-My dear wife, let’s go home.”
Having said that, he sheepishly handed the bouquet to Hannah with both hands. As Hannah took the bouquet from him, the bridesmaids teased, “The bride is so quick to accept. But we’re not done grilling with the groom yet.”
Hannah smiled and looked at Chandler with gentleness in her eyes. “It hasn’t been easy for him ever since our paths crossed. So that’s enough of tormenting him.”
After hearing that, I instinctively turned and looked at Ashton. Subconsciously, I leaned into his chest and was lost in thought. It had not been easy for us too. For us to be together, life had thrown us curve balls and tough challenges.
Chandler crouched by the bed, and then Hannah got up from the bed and leaned her upper body onto his back. Amid the blessings in the room, I overheard the inarticulate Chandler saying as he carried her on his back, “My dear wife, let’s go home.”
Oh, such sweet words!
And then, we followed Chandler and Hannah and made our way out of the hotel. Right at the entrance of the hotel, a dozen red Audi cars parked behind the wedding car. The wedding car was red too, and there was a woven of fresh flowers in a big heart-shaped decorated on the car’s bonnet.
It was about forty minutes’ drive from the hotel to Chandler’s house. As arranged, Ashton and I sat in one of the convoy cars behind the wedding car. Just when we were about to reach Chandler’s house, there were red balloons and ribbons decorated on both sides of the asphalt road that served as a guide to the house.
When the car came to a stop, the groomsman in the driver’s seat turned around and looked at us. “We’re not far from the groom’s house. The groom’s family has prepared a palanquin for the bride to enter the house in it, and she’s going to ride in it from here.”
I was taken aback for a moment and got out of the car as everyone else. There was an air of novelty in the decorations of red heart-shaped balloons and ribbons on both sides of the road. Further up along the road, there were decorations of bouquets of red flowers instead of red balloons. And since fresh flowers were expensive in the winter, they used hand-weaved flowers instead.
I was right behind Hannah when she stared at the decoration of red flowers on both sides of the road. She was caught by surprise and turned towards Chandler. “These flowers…”
Chandler smiled and said, “My parents handmade them. They began weaving two months before the wedding. Initially, they wanted to use these all the way, but they couldn’t weave sufficient flowers on time. That’s why we only use it for this section of the road.”
Hannah was stunned, and then she blushed. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? We could have helped out and eased the burden of Mr. and Mrs. Coleman. They’re getting old, and this kind of work is very tiring for them.”
Chandler ruffled his hair and said with a smile, “Why are you still calling them Mr. and Mrs. Coleman? You’ll have to address them as Mom and Dad from now on.”
A blush spread across Hannah’s cheeks when she heard that.
I studied the beautiful hand-weaved flowers decorated on both sides of the road. Although these flowers were artificial, each of these flowers was hand-weaved with love and respect for Hannah. There was nothing more important than love and respect for one another between two people. These small details in the decorations were enough to touch our hearts.
Hannah got into the palanquin and was carried into Chandler’s house at a distance of nearly a kilometer.
The palanquin-bearers lifted the palanquin carefully and slowly followed Chandler, who was riding on a horse in front of them. The handsome horse trotted to the sound of beating drums and gongs as they headed towards Chandler’s house.
The big group of bridesmaids and groomsmen followed behind the palanquin and cheered. The joyful commotion caused those in the neighborhood to come out of their houses and watched the wedding celebration.
